Origin Marking: Israel

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what his policy is on mandatory labelling of goods from illegal settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

Norman Lamb: The Government's policy in relation to Israeli settlements on the West Bank and in East Jerusalem is quite clear: those settlements are illegal under international law, an obstacle to peace and make a two-state solution, with Jerusalem as a shared capital, harder to achieve.
	Under current legislation there is no mandatory requirement for goods produced in settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank to be labelled as such. Where specific EU legislation in the food sectors requires the country of origin to be indicated the Government believes that “Produce of The West Bank” is a lawful description of the origin of such goods (no food or drink of East Jerusalem provenance is imported into the United Kingdom). The West Bank is a recognised geographical area within the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
	So far as food and drink of West Bank origin imported into the UK is concerned, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has issued voluntary technical advice for the benefit of those importers and retailers who believe that their customers wish to distinguish between products of Israeli settlement provenance and those which originate from Palestinian growers.